Summons to appear in court

How Strange

A non Irish colleague of mine asked me for my opinion on a situation and I wasn't sure what is correct.

Her son (EU but not Irish) received a court summons for a minor traffic offence and has to appear before court in the summer. However, he intended to go back home for the summer and his mother has been trying to phone the contact details for the relevant district court to see if there is anything she can do.

She wanted to know if she could appear in his place. My opinion was that because he is an adult he has to appear in court and if he fails to appear in court a judge may either arrange another day in court or if he's having a bad day he could issue a warrant against him. I also thought a solicitor couldn't appear in court on his behalf for the same reason (that he is an adult).

I'm not looking for legal advice but simply if this young man has to appear in court in person or can someone appear on his behalf?

Jo King

I certainly hope you are not going to give any advice to your colleague.
The court office cannot help as any adjournment is at the discretion of the judge. Have a look at Order 6 of the District Court Rules

http://courts.ie/rules.nsf/0c609d7abff72c1c80256d2b0045bb64/a70259993571101e80256d2b0046a047?OpenDocument

Tactically a lot depends on which court the guy is summonsed to.

MagicSean

If he speaks to the garda in question he can arrange to have the case adjourned until he is back. Or he can send a solicitor to plead guilty on his behalf. The only problem with this is that the judge probably won't accept mitigation for the penalty.

How Strange

Jo King wrote: »

I certainly hope you are not going to give any advice to your colleague.

Eh, no. I never said I was going to advice anyone.

The court office cannot help as any adjournment is at the discretion of the judge. Have a look at Order 6 of the District Court Rules

http://courts.ie/rules.nsf/0c609d7abff72c1c80256d2b0045bb64/a70259993571101e80256d2b0046a047?OpenDocument

Tactically a lot depends on which court the guy is summonsed to.

Thanks for the link.